|
新概念三 Lesson 14 A noble gangster 贵族歹徒 There was a time when the owners of shops and businesses in Chicagohad to pay large sums of money to gangsters in return for protection. If themoney was not paid promptly, the gangsters would quickly put a man out ofbusiness by destroying his shop. Obtaining protection money is not a moderncrime. As long ago as the fourteenth century, an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood,made the remarkable discovery that people would rather pay large sums of moneythan have their life work destroyed by gangsters. Six hundred years ago, Sir Johan Hawkwood arrived in Italy with aband of soldiers and settled near Florence. He soon made a name for himself andcame to be known to the Italians as Giovanni Acuto. Whenever the Italiancity-states were at war with each other, Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers toprinces who were willing to pay the high price he demanded. In times of peace,when business was bad, Hawkwood and his men would march into a city-state and,after burning down a few farms, would offer to go away if protection money waspaid to them. Hawkwood made large sums of money in this way. In spite of this,the Italians regarded him as a sort of hero. When he died at the age of eighty,the Florentines gave him a state funeral and had a pictured painted which wasdedicated to the memory of the most valiant soldier and most notable leader,Signor Giovanni Haukodue. 曾经有一个时期,芝加哥的店主和商行的老板们不得不拿出大笔的钱给歹徒以换取保护。如果交款不及时,歹徒们就会很快捣毁他的商店,让他破产.榨取保护金并不是一种现代的罪恶行径.早在14世纪,英国人约翰.霍克伍德就有过非凡的发现:人们情愿拿出大笔的钱,也不愿毕生的心血毁于歹徒之手. | 
